Well, I'm not that in the know about how magic works here either and I'm a Witch, so not knowing the right questions makes sense to me. [It does sound like something that would be hard to phrase, trying to get information about something you don't actually know about. Sounds like a great way to accidentally frustrate people.]

Maybe ask if there's anything magically significant here? I mean, a leyline in the forest and a dragon at that outpost both seem pretty major, it could be another kind of big deal magic thing.